The classmates with him in these photographs when he was 15 were destined for careers in building, scaffolding, labouring.

But Adrian didn’t want to settle for that. He aspired to much more.

He started a band but it was all about him

He wanted to be a rock star. He took up the guitar and started his own band. Nothing particularly unusual in that for teenagers but where Adrian differed was that it was all about him. And he was very open about that.

Most bands on that circuit were lame post punk copies of the The Cure or Echo & the Bunnymen and had names to match.

MPs pay their respects to those killed and injured in the terror attack with a minute's silence this morning

The Roebuck pub was the most notorious skinhead drinking den, home to a chapter of the so-called Headhunter football hooligans who caused trouble at Chelsea and England games.

Adrian would drink there, it was suggested, and ended up being sucked into extreme right-wing politics, even going on an NF march.

A bizarre suggestion but I’m told it’s true. And if it was, then there is an intriguing footnote: the Roebuck, long since shut down, was to become the site of the town’s first mosque and would have been Adrian’s local centre of worship when he was released from prison as a new Muslim convert.

Could he have been the one and only person who drank there with the skinheads and later worshipped there? Conceivably, yes.

One old school friend told me yesterday: “As soon as I heard the words Ajao and Kent, I feared that it would be him.” No one would ever have thought it could be Paul. But Adrian — on reflection, not so surprising.

He seemed to exhibit the necessary traits — a self-centred personality, a tendency to behaviour more extreme than the other boys, a propensity to violence.

I hadn’t seen him for 30 years but I had never forgotten him

I hadn’t seen him for 30 years but I had never forgotten him. He seemed volatile then and at times there was a hint of potential menace.

But he was also capable of being charming, captivating, very funny.

He was a larger than life character in a small town — the classic big fish in a small pond who never worked out how to graduate to a bigger one. Until Wednesday.

Adrian’s reputation has finally spread much, much wider.

FARMER MOTHER

By ALEX WEST

THE mother of Westminster terrorist Khalid Masood lives the “Good Life” dream in a farmhouse keeping chickens and making handicrafts.
Janet Ajao, 69, is described by neighbours as a “sweet grey-haired old lady” who retired to the Welsh countryside with husband Phillip.
In 1999 they bought the 60-acre farm in Carmarthenshire, where they raise sheep to sell at organic markets. She also makes cushions and rugs to sell online.
Their lifestyle could not be further from the carnage created by Janet’s son, who she named Adrian Russell when she gave birth to him aged 17, two years before she married Phillip.
His actions have left her devastated, pals say.
Phillip, who is believed to have a Nigerian background, is in hospital battling cancer and she is alone at home.
Friend Mark Sillars said last night: “Janet is probably feeling very alone. Her son is dead, her husband is ill.”
Janet and Phillip turned heads when they moved in as the first mixed-race marriage in the tiny village of Trelech — population 745.
Mark said: “They were friendly and neighbourly. We would have no reason to suspect anything until this happened.”
Local police searched Janet’s house on Thursday and quizzed her about her son.
A spokeswoman said: “The occupants are receiving appropriate support. They are not suspects and have not been arrested.”